Friday, October 12, 2018

fall break road trip beauty stops and a pretty huge announcement

It is Fall Break in the desert, so right at this very moment my girls and I are on a road trip adventure to do some campus tours of colleges. Because college applications are coming up. How in heaven's name did that come up so dang quick!? We are missing Dave, who had to get back for some work meetings after the first part of the week (more about that later), but we are having fun driving my mom's little car all over the place, and going crazy over the Fall leaves that are stunning right now.

Well, maybe I'm the one going a little crazy over all this beauty...this is how Claire looked when I pulled over after the hundredth "LOOK AT HOW BEAUTIFUL!" exclamation:

She just wanted to GET THERE already!

(That face is a reenactment of her "crazy face" she used to make when she was little...as a joke...but she did feel like that a little that stop though!)

But honestly, how can you NOT stop when you see things like this??

It is so, so pretty here!

Lucy had no desire to get out, but sure had fun trying to squish Claire in the back seat:

This particular stop turned into this:

Man, I really like to be with these girls of ours!

...and to be amidst all this gorgeousness!

Also, we are glad to be in Utah/Idaho area because this happened last weekend:

And we get to hang with them a little.

I'm not sure how else to announce something so big as that, I am in very unchartered territory here! So I figure I'll start here in this little spot:) I can't wait until I'm "all caught up" to announce it, because that will take forever!

So there we go!

We are so excited!

Oh boy, do I ever have a LOT to catch up on here in this little corner of the Internet!

I got those shoes at Nordstrom Rack a couple years ago and I cannot find any brand on them anywhere but they sure are comfy :) (Sorry, I know that doesn't help, but that's all I've got). And the pants are from Athleta...also very comfy!

I think this is probably the first thing they have done sincerely on their own as adults. College was guiding. Even the timing for his mission had guidance from parents. They really are grown up. They are blessed to find one another so early in life.

Hi, Shawni! I found your blog accidentally about seven years ago, when my firstborn was a baby. I was searching for local moms groups (I’m a fellow East Valley resident) and somehow your blog came up in my search. I learned a lot from your posts (and the ensuing comments sections) in my first couple years of parenting, and some of your advice gave me confidence and inspiration. I have been back to your page pretty rarely in the last few years, partially because I’ve been busy with more kids and partially because I have worked hard to minimize my screen time. But I popped onto your blog today to look for some book recommendations I remember in the comments section of an old post, and I saw your recent big announcement.It got me thinking ahead to how I’ll be feeling when my kids find their partners for life. I can imagine that, even if I implicitly trust their judgment, love their chosen partners, and feel truly happy for them, I will probably feel a deep sense of loss, too. I suspect those feelings are pretty normal (and valid). My kids sometimes watch a PBS show called “Daniel Tiger’s Neighborhood.” One of Daniel’s songs that we reference frequently goes, “Sometimes you have two feelings at the same time, and that’s ok.” Daniel’s pretty right on. ;)My LDS friends had pretty quick (by my standards) engagements, so I hope you’re able to process all the things you need to process in this busy time. You might not be having any conflicting feelings about your son’s big announcement, and I apologize if I have projected my feelings inaccurately. But if you ARE having any difficult feelings, I suspect lots of your readers (like me) are sending some good vibes in your direction. :)

You hit it pretty exactly Jill! We are SO excited they found each other, and we sure adore that girl so much, but man alive, it's tough to let him go. I know I'm not losing him, rather really gaining such an awesome new daughter, but it sure changes things and there are definitely so many mixed emotions. It seems so surreal this is happening!

As a long term reader, it would be great to know in the broader sense (ie not specific to Max) how dating and proposals come about for LDS. To an Aussie, Anglican, it seems very accelerated, and so I'm keen to understand the culture and how things go.

THanks for the follow up post - you're right, defs speed mode! Now I'm 33, I want speed mode, provided I KNOW and feel right in the choice. My four year relationship clearly never felt that, and that's why I'm single now. Thanks Shawni :)

I'm also interested to know in order to understand it better. He's so young AND it all happened so quickly! Why? Can't they just enjoy being together, traveling, studying, etc. without being married immediately? How do you perceive this? They have their entire lives ahead. No doubt they will work for it, but still...

Don't get me wrong, I am really happy for you and them and I wish them all the best, but I guess it's just not that easy to understand.

That would be a good question to ask THEM, maybe they will weigh in :) But I do know that they have put a tremendous amount of energy and faith and searching to figure this timing out, and I totally support them. I agree, they have their entire lives ahead, and the way they see it is that they want to spend those entire lives together. Which is pretty awesome.

Congratulations to Max. Long time reader, first time commenter. I want to congratulate you on your up-beat blog. I know you get some flack for it. But I appreciate how you focus on the positive - we all want more positivity in our lives!